The present invention relates to the cross-linking of polymers and in particular to those agents which crosslink said polymers.
Polymeric resins in the form of spheroidal beads are used in many applications such as chelating resins and as anion exchange resins. Copolymer particles or beads prepared from polymerized monomers of mono- and poly- ethylenically unsaturated monomers can be converted to anion exchange resins using various techniques. Specifically, a weak base resin can be prepared by haloalkylating poly(vinyl aromatic) copolymer beads and subsequently functionalizing the haloalkylated copolymers using an agent such as ammonia, ethylamine, trimethylamine, dimethylisopropanol ethanol, and the like.
In view of the fact that polymeric anion exchange resins are prepared from crosslinked copolymeric beads or particles which are later functionalized, it would be highly desirable to provide a crosslinked polymer which is useful as an anion exchange resin which is crosslinked after the functionalization is provided to the polymer.